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Loading... The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pieby Alan Bradley
I'd give this 2.5 stars if I could (  ) knittinkitties | Jun 11, 2013 |  I picked this book up because someone recommended it as a good family road trip book - and I completely agree! The main character and detective in this mystery is Flavia de Luce, a precocious 11-year old girl who likes to dabble in chemistry and has both the curiosity and confidence needed to get her in big trouble. When a man is found murdered in the family's vegetable garden, nothing can stop Flavia from solving this mystery. Although the content in this story is perfectly fine for family listening, Flavia's extensive vocabulary make this not quite a children's book. This is a great listen for fans of Cozy mysteries like 'The Cat Who..' or M.C. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth series. ( ) jmoncton | Jun 3, 2013 | This book is something else. I loved the unique amateur sleuth-a precocious eleven-year-old chemistry whizby the name of Flavia de Luce; the setting-1950's remote English country village; the mystery-a dying man in the garden in the early hours of the morning. The characters in this cozy mystery are truly wonderful. First we have Flavia herself. She's a chemistry genius, but her main penchant is for creating posisons. We have her two older sisters-Opheila (Filly) and Daphne (Daffy) who Flavia enjoys tormenting. We have her father-a strange quiet man who still mourns the disappearance of his wife and a man who is totally engaged with his stamps. His daughters are pretty much left to their own devices. Then there is the housekeeper - Mrs. Mullen and of course the man of all tasks Dogger-a man who is suffering from post-traumatic stress from the war. This mismatched household lives in a crumbling mansion called Buckshaw. The whole story begins with a dead bird showing up on the doorstep of Buckshaw one morning. This act nearly derails Flavia's father and it starts the whole ball rolling (so to speak). Flavia finds a dying man lying in the cucumber patch the next day, and she determines to find out what happened to this stranger. Young Flavia has a scientific mind, so she employs the same skills when trying to solve a murder. Her investigation takes her back thirty years when a well-loved professor threw himself to his death from top of the highest steeple at the school where Flavia's father is a young student. This book is so much fun and Flavia is such a delight, that I intend to read the others in this wonderful series. This brilliant book won the Golden Dagger award in 2009 for best first mystery novel. Alan Bradley does a marvelous job of portraying Flavia. She is a one-in-a-million fictional character that will stick with me for a long time. (  ) Romonko | May 27, 2013 | Although I loved the writing style, the sharp British wit, and the 11-year old heroine, I just couldn't continue reading this novel. There was too much tedious detail that didn't hold my interest. I never felt invested or intrigued enough by the plot or the characters to continue. firstperson | May 20, 2013 | I absolutely love Flavia. I just finished the second one but I decided to make my comments on this one. They hold true on both. It amazes me how Mr. Bradley created a mind so advanced, so wonderfully insane and still kept her, to the best that I can judge, 11 years old - flying down the road on her bike imagining she's a WWII fighter jet. I can't even write this without loosing control of my ear to ear smile. The wait for the third book seems so long. ( ) Yona | May 2, 2013 |
 It's a rare pleasure to follow Flavia as she investigates her limited but boundless-feeling world. And it's nice to know she'll be back. Impressive as a sleuth and enchanting as a mad scientist (“What a jolly poison could be extracted from the jonquil”), Flavia is most endearing as a little girl who has learned how to amuse herself in a big lonely house. Is contained in
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It is the summer of 1950, and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events. For Flavia, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw.… (more)
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